Board of Goverors Minutes - Meeting of
October 29, 1997

As approved at the November 27, 1997, meeting of the Board of Governors.
The "in camera" portion of the minutes has not been included. Copies of
Appendices noted below are available from the University Secretariat,
Room 290 Stevenson-Lawson Building.

The meeting was held at 9:30 a.m. in Ballroom III, the Convention Centre, London, Ontario.

Mr. Peel announced that Mr. Ryon Bateman was recently re-elected by the graduate student
constituency for another two-year term, November 15, 1997 - November 14, 1999. Mr. Sam
Castiglione was elected by the undergraduate student constituency for a two year term, November
15, 1997 to November 14, 1999. On behalf of the Board, Mr. Peel thanked Mr. Ryan Parks,
whose term on the Board ends November 14, 1997, for his contributions to the deliberations of
the Board of Governors.

Mr. Peel welcomed Mr. Grant Hopcroft, in his capacity as Acting Mayor of the City of London,
to the meeting.

BG.97-221 Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The minutes of the meeting of October 2, 1997, were approved as circulated.

BG.97-222 REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT [Appendix I]

The President's Report included information on the following topics.

BG.97-222a Federal Government Relations

Dr. Davenport, who is Chair of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, advised
that AUCC will continue to lobby the government for renewed commitment to improve student
aid and the restoration of funding for the large federal research funding councils - MRC, NSERC,
and SSHRC.

BG.97-222b Provincial Government Relations

Dr. Davenport reported that the Council of Ontario Universities will continue to solicit the
Provincial Government on the issues of student assistance, government grant, and tuition fee
flexibility.

BG.97-222c The University and UWOFA

Dr. Moran reported that for the past several months a team from the administration and a team
from The University of Western Ontario Faculty Association worked to establish a new
comprehensive agreement for faculty. However, talks broke off last month when the UWOFA
withdrew its negotiating team, claiming that talks had reached an impasse. At the October 28th
UWOFA meeting the membership voted to pursue certification under the Ontario Labour
Relations Act, and as a result a certification drive is underway. Dr. Moran stated that he regrets
that the talks have been terminated but respects the right of faculty to determine how they will be
represented. A number of open meetings for faculty have been scheduled to explain the issues
that were central to the "new relationship" discussions that would be an alternative to
certification.

BG.97-222d Activities of the President for the month of October

The President's activities for the month of October are contained in Appendix I, distributed with
the agenda.

Questions

BG.97-223 Government Grant

Mr. Keith asked if the university sector should be concerned given that the government is
allegedly cutting $500 million from the primary/secondary school sector. Dr. Davenport replied
that one should not draw a correlation between government budget cuts to the primary/secondary
school sector and the university sector. The government is aware that currently Ontario's
universities rank last in the country in funding per capita and 33% below the average of the other
nine provinces in terms of government grant per student.

BG.97-224 OSAP

Mr. Parks referred to a leaked government document, purportedly the job description of the
Deputy Minister of Education, which sets as an objective a revenue generating program linked to
OSAP; he asked Dr. Davenport to comment. Dr. Davenport stated that he has reviewed the
document briefly. He found the language very troubling and questioned whether such an initiative
would be possible. The document implies that part of the reform of the student loan system in
Ontario would involve a net saving of expenditure. Dr. Davenport reaffirmed his conviction that
the student loan system must be reformed to include an income contingent repayment plan as well
as assistance following graduation.

REPORT OF THE PROPERTY & FINANCE COMMITTEE [Appendix II]

BG.97-225 Policy on Overhead on Contract Research

On behalf of the Property & Finance Committee, it was moved by C. Weldon, seconded by S.
Desmond,

That the policy on overhead on contract research be increased from a standard 30% of direct
costs to 40% of direct costs and be distributed as set out below:

Overhead on Contract Research

(Policy 7.7)

1.00 The standard overhead rate on contract research shall be 40%, distributed as follows:

Dean of Faculty 12%

Contracting department or unit 5%

Contracting laboratory 5%

Corporate UWO 9%

Research Promotion Fund 9%

Total 40% of direct costs

2.00 Exceptions to the standard rate of 40% may be made as required by negotiated agreements
with government or through negotiations with the Industry Liaison Office.

Dr. Bridger clarified that the proposed policy relates to contract research only.

The question was called and CARRIED.

BG.97-226 Affinity Program for Financial Services for Faculty, Staff and Alumni

It was moved by C. Weldon, seconded by W. Gibson,

That the Board of Governors authorize the establishment of a business relationship with Canada
Trust to develop an affinity program to provide financial services to alumni, staff and retired staff.

Dr. Hewitt asked what benefit the University will derive from implementing this program. Mr.
Garrard advised that Western will receive a commission based on the volume of new business
generated by the program. The types of financial services under consideration include mutual
funds, registered retirement savings plans, life income funds, general banking, loans and
mortgages, financial planning services and credit cards. Canada Trust will invest internal resources
in the amount of $100,000 to complete the research necessary for this program and has also
offered to pay $25,000 to the University to assist with costs related to the research and data
gathering.

The question was called and CARRIED.

BG.97-227 New Residence Feasibility Study and Initiation of Design Phase

It was moved by C. Weldon, seconded by J. Etherington,

That the Board of Governors accept the Feasibility Study for a new student residence and
authorize initiation of the design phase.

Ms. Weldon advised that funding for the initial design phase will be provided from the Student
Housing budget.

Mr. Taylor acknowledged that guaranteeing residence space to first year students as a recruitment
tool gives Western a competitive advantage over its direct competitors, but he questioned
whether Western could find itself in a negative demand for residence space if the competitors
build more residences. Dr. Mercer advised that Western is playing "catch up" relative to the
number of residence spaces available. The University of Guelph and Queen's University have
been able to offer residence space to all of their first year students for some time. A new
residence will address Western's continuing efforts to offer residence space to first year students
and will also meet the demand for rooms in residence for upper year students.

Mr. Taylor asked if Western will be able to access the upper year student demands for residence
space in time should the demand for residence space from first year students fall short. Dr.
Davenport stated that every effort will be made to do so. One problem now is the timing of offers
of admission and acceptance deadlines for first year students. Currently all Ontario universities, by
agreement, send their offers of admission at the same time, i.e., mid-June, and responses are
received by the beginning of July. By that time, upper class students who have been unable to
secure a place in residence have found alternative accommodation. The Admissions Task Force
of COU, of which the Provost is a member, is looking into the possibility of changing the offer
date, such that residence spaces could be assured to first year students and upper class students
much earlier in the spring.

The question was called and CARRIED.

BG.97-228 Report on Environmental and/or Safety Incidents

The Board was informed that on September 23, 1997, a fire occurred at 1130 Western Road.
Two UWO plumbers were repairing a broken water line with a torch when a wooden wall ignited.
A quick response to the accident limited damage to approximately $3,500. An investigation has
been conducted and a number of procedural recommendations have been made and are being
implemented.

BG.97-229 Report on Scholarships

The Board received for information a report on changes in existing awards, prizes and bursaries
detailed in Appendix II, page 4.

REPORT OF THE CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE [Appendix III]

BG.97-230 Public Meeting - October 6, 1997

Mr. Etherington reported that the Campus & Community Affairs Committee held its first public
meeting on Monday, October 6, 1997. The focus of the meeting was budgetary issues. Details
about the meeting were contained in Appendix III. Other than the recommendations to the
administration and to the presenters, no specific recommendations are directed to the Board or to
another Board committee on the matters raised at the meeting. The next public meeting is
scheduled for December 8, 1997.

As noted in the Summary of the Report, CCAC was very impressed by the submissions made to it
at the open meeting, by audience participation during the discussions of the presentations and by
responses given by members of CCAC.

Dr. Hewitt asked how the Board can address the graduate students' concern about the payment of
full fees in each of three terms per year given that during the summer term only about 50% of
departments offer courses, faculty supervisors are often unavailable, and library hours are cut
back. Dr. Moran advised that he and the Dean of Graduate Studies are scheduled to meet with
graduate representatives in the near future to discuss these concerns. He stated, however, that it
must be recognized that graduate tuition is not a fee for service, it is a fee for being involved and
having access to graduate programs.

Mr. Bateman remarked that one might have a better understanding of the graduate tuition fee
charged by Western if the cost of offering a graduate program were known. He expressed
concern that some graduate students leave Western with a bitter attitude which could have a
negative impact on Western's reputation.

ITEMS REFERRED BY SENATE [Appendix IV]

BG.97-231 Appointments

The Board received for information a listing of appointments detailed in Appendix IV.

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS

BG.97-232 Off-Campus Access to Western's Computing Services

Dr. Hewitt suggested that a topic of discussion at a future Board meeting should be computing
services offered by Western. She explained that it is difficult to get access to e-mail from off
campus in the evening, service is slow, and the system goes down frequently. Dr. Moran stated
that Western is doing well to keep up with the demand for dial-in modem access, given that such
access is offered to the University community free of charge. Western is exploring other forms of
modem access such as those offered by Rogers Communications and Bell.